Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In short, solutions for precise guidance on slopes exist. The most important
decision on slopes is about the best driving pattern and its effect on soil erosion.
4.5
Precision in Section Control of Farm Machines
The operating width of present day farm machines and irregular fi eld shapes
causes situations where overlapping cannot be avoided. But if overlapping of
machinery parts cannot be prevented, twice sowing, -fertilizing and -spraying the
same area should not take place. It results in waste of seeds as well as of agro-
chemicals and reduces yields. Section control of farm machines avoids these
disadvantages.
Basis of modern section control is that all fi eld boundaries, previously treated
areas, not cultivated regions and grassed waterways within fi elds are geoerefer-
enced. This prerequisite holds for all automatic guidance systems that rely on GPS.
The sections refer to either
single units
of the respective machinery -
i.e.
planter
units, nozzles on the sprayer boom and outlets of pneumatic spreaders - or alterna-
tively to
several units
respectively that are grouped together. Each section has an
actuating- and control device that permits switching on and off by a central control-
ler, which has the fi eld data and communicates with the GPS receiver. When prop-
erly used, these automatic techniques allow for precisions in irregular fi elds as
outlined and shown in Fig.
4.12
.
An economical use of section control techniques calls for frequent applications
in irregularly shaped fi elds. The savings in seeds and agrochemicals can be as
much as 25 % in very oddly-shaped fi elds and be almost zero in rectangular land
(Stombaugh et al.
2009
) .
Fig. 4.12
Schematics of section control for sowing and spraying in irregular fi elds (
left
, from
Raven Industries Inc., altered) and a result with maize (
right
, from John Deere & Co.)
